Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has expressed reservations about whether Australia will need a French-style nuclear power industry, despite acknowledging there is support for further investigation into the technology in South Australia.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill set up a royal commission in March to undertake an independent investigation into the state's participation in the nuclear fuel cycle.

In Adelaide for a day of media events, Mr Turnbull was asked for his view in an interview with local radio station 5AA.

"I commend Jay Weatherill for having the royal commission. I think it's good that he's done that," Mr Turnbull said.

The Prime Minister went on to relay a conversation he had held with "Brett the chef" ahead of the interview.

"I was just talking about this with the cook in the cafe downstairs when I was having a coffee and some breakfast," Mr Turnbull said.

"His view, and I think a lot of South Australians feel like this, and it's a perfectly reasonable view, is we've got the uranium, we mine it, why don't we process it, turn it into the fuel rods, lease them to people overseas?

"When they're done, bring them back and we've got very stable geology in remote locations and a stable political environment and store them.

"That is a business that you could well imagine here."

Mr Turnbull went on to lay out his view of the future of widespread nuclear power in Australia.

"Would we ever have a nuclear power station in Australia? Or like the French do, dozens of nuclear power stations?" he said.

"I would be a bit sceptical about that and I'm not talking about the politics."

Mr Turnbull said Australia was already using more affordable sources of energy, including coal, gas, wind and solar.